8.9: Causation in the Age of the Cold War and Decolonization

• End of WWII marked rise in new world order where the two superpowers were the US and USSR

• Marshall Plan helped Western Europe rebuild economically and achieve a level of economic prosperity that was unknown among the countries of Eastern Europe

• Western European colonial empires began to crumble as anti-imperialist sentiment fueled independence movements in Africa and Asia

• Resentment of European and American economic imperialism also rose in Latin American countries
• Led to revolutionary movements, like the one in Cuba by Fidel Castro

• US and USSR fought through proxy wars, projecting their own differences onto regional conflicts

Challenges to Existing Social Orders

• Ideological differences between capitalism and communism

• US didn’t trust Soviets as US believed the USSR was trying to bring about a global communist revolution

• US adopted policy of containment, which used military, economic, and political means to stop the spread of communism in countries where it wasn’t adopted yet

Three Alignments

• “First World” = United States and its allies

• “Second World” = Soviet Union, the Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe, and other communist nations around the world

• “Third World” = non aligned countries

• US dominant in the Americas

• USSR had lots of power in the Eastern Hemisphere

• Former colonies were often non-aligned as they didn’t want to get swept up with imperial powers again

Superpower Rivalries

• Europe divided into Western and Eastern Europe by Iron Curtain
• Western had for the most part democratic and free-market societies
• Eastern was mostly autocratic and communist
• Dividing line ran through Germany

• Mistrust on both sides led to a nuclear arms race that was an existential threat to Europe and the world

The Arms Race

• During WWI, US was only country with nuclear weapons

• After WWII, USSR developed nuclear weapons and became the only country able to militarily challenge the US

• Marks start of Arms Race

• As the number of nukes on both sides increased, tensions between both sides increased as well

• NATO, a military alliance of Western nations to challenge USSR, formed

• Soviets, in response to NATO, created Warsaw Pact

Hopes for Greater Self-Government

• WWII accelerated the dismantling of global colonial powers

• Self-determination movements grew

• World War II had weakened Britain, France, and other colonial powers that they no longer had sufficient resources to assert their authority

• Cold War gave anti-colonial activists two sides to pick from and approach them to become an ally: US or USSR

Comparing Political Effects of the Cold War

• Some transitions to independence were negotiated (ex: India)

• Some insurgent rebellions were funded by the US or USSR
• US would support a group that would establish a non-communist government
• USSR would support communist movements
• Western-backed governments tended to be unpopular with the majority of the people, which only heightened anti-imperialist feelings

Political Effects in Asia

• Cold War brought armed conflict and crises in many countries in Asia
• US policy of containment led to wars in Vietnam and Korea
• Communist revolutions overtook Cambodia and Laos
• Soviets invaded Afghanistan to prop up the communist government in that country
• Anti-communist crackdowns occurred in Indonesia and the Philippines
• Communist China had a falling-out with the Soviet Union and began to seek better relations with the United States

Political Effects in Africa

• Communist insurrections in Africa supported by the Soviet Union were often met by resistance supported by US

• Communist governments came to power in Ethiopia and Angola
• In the case of Angola, US and USSR fought a proxy war there through the Angolan Civil War

Political Effects in the Western Hemisphere

• Communist revolutions were successful in Cuba and Nicaragua

• US would often support a dictatorship made up of military officers or right-wing politicians and groups to try to stop the spread of communism

Comparing Economic Effects of the Cold War

State Response to Economic Challenges in the West

• Under Marshall Plan, Western European countries were able to rebuild their economies; many of the economies became better than they were pre-WWII!

• Many Western European nations also were welfare states, providing public health systems, public housing, unemployment insurance

• Western European nations’ economies boomed while the Eastern European economies, under a communist system, struggled to recover from the costs and effects of the war

State Response to Economic Challenges in the Eastern Bloc

• After end of Cold War, many Eastern European countries struggled to adopt more capitalist ideas and ditch communism
• Political debates ensued, unemployment rose

• China made a more gradual transition to a free-market economy and has since become a global economic powerhouse

State Response to Economic Challenges in Developing Countries

• Many former colonies still had close economic ties to the countries that had colonized them and remained dependent on the extraction and exporting of natural resources

Comparing Social and Cultural Effects

Social Tensions

• In US, many people’s careers and lives were ruined because they were suspected of being a Communist

• In USSR, political repression and a restricted press caused many to be fearful of expressing their political views openly

• Bomb shelters built for protection in the event of a nuclear war

Cultural Effects

• Western Europeans experienced a cultural rebirth after World War II thanks to greater personal freedom and support by the US
• Scientific research, music, art, and architecture flourished

• Eastern Europe didn’t have this cultural rebirth as they lacked freedom of expression and blocked the spread of Western culture

• During the Cold War, many people from former colonies moved to the metropole, furthering the blending of cultures

• At the same time, the imperial powers left a legacy of culture in their former colonies
• Ex: English still spoken in India

Development of Global Institutions

• To further cooperation, global organizations like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization were established

• Countries around the world agreed to more cooperation

• Other organizations address issues like climate change, human rights, and epidemic diseases

• A lot of these organizations were created after the Cold War
• WTO for example created in 1995